2009 NSPS Salary Increases

About 284,000 government employees are currently awaiting conversion to the NSPS pay system, which is expected to grow to include over 700,000 civilian employees. A significant portion of these conversions are likely to take place during the 2009 year, and we’re here to help you understand how it will effect your salary.

Compared to General Schedule pay increases, NSPS reviews are a much bigger deal. The overall boost for workers within the NSPS system is very likely to be higher than what other federal employees receive under the GS pay scale system (after performance-based bonuses are included). Moreover, the NSPS pay system only contains 2 – 4 different pay bands; this means that there’s only a few chances to rise through the pay ranks, making each performance especially crucial.

Congress passed and the President signed legislation providing a base 3.9 percent average pay increase for NSPS employees in 2009.

Remember: The most decisive factor in your salary increase is the result of your NSPS self-assessments, which should have been completed by September 30th, 2008. Nonetheless, the result of your assessment will be your placement into a new pay band – this article shows the salary ranges for the pay band of each vocation.

Projecting the salary increase for NSPS workers is essentially a two-step process. First, we take into account the overall amount of funding available for NSPS pay increases; second, the weight of additional compensation must be computed with respect to the rating system, which favors high-performing employees over those who do not perform exceptionally. According to an official DoD Issuance, here are the factors which contribute to the determination of payouts for employees in each pay band:

• Current salary and level and complexity of work performed in comparison with others in similar work assignments
• Performance-based compensation received during the rating cycle associated with promotions, reassignments, or awards
• Local market salary levels of comparable occupations in private sector and other government activities
• Attrition and retention rates of critical shortage skill personnel
• Overall contribution to the mission of the organization
• Availability of funds.